Here’s Lake Superior’s full list of words they want banned — and the reasons the word or phrase was included:

Unpack: Misused word for analyze, consider, assess. Concepts or positions are not packed, so they don’t need to be unpacked.

Tons: Refers to an exaggerated quantity, as in tons of sunshine or tons of work. “Lots” would surely suffice.

Dish: As in to dish out the latest rumor on someone. Let’s go back to “talks about” and leave dishes in the cupboard.

Pre-owned: What is so disgraceful about owning a used car now and then?

Onboarding/Offboarding: Creature from the HR Lagoon. We used to have hiring, training and orientation. Now we need to have an “onboarding” process. Firings, quitting and retirements are streamlined into “offboarding.”

Nothingburger: Says nothing that “nothing” doesn’t already. I’ll take a quarter pound of something in mine.

Let That Sink In: One could say shocking, profound or important. Let that sink in.

Impactful: A frivolous word groping for something “effective” or “influential.”

Covfefe: An impulsive typo, born into a 140-character universe, somehow missed by the autocorrect feature.

Drill Down: Instead of expanding on a statement, we “drill down on it.”

Fake News: Once upon a time stories could be empirically disproved. Now “fake news” is any story you disagree with.

Hot Water Heater: Hot water does not need to be heated. “Water heater” or “hot water maker” will keep us out of hot water.

Gig Economy: Gigs are for musicians and stand-up comedians. Now expanded to imply a sense of freedom and a lifestyle that rejects tradition in a changing economic culture. Runs a risk of sharecropping.

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